Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am attempting to make a plastic that is out of the norm: sugar-based plastic.
I do not know the chemical process behind this polymerization. I am in desperate need of a procedure, for I must start collecting data soon. But with no procedure/method to follow, I cannot do a single thing but continue to search endlessly for an article that can tell me this. I have checked online databases--so far, nothing. I have "googled" profusely--nothing. I have contacted several companies, engineers, and professors, seeking their correspondence, but nobody has offered any help.

Please help me.

[Email address removed by admin]

-Parissa Joukar

Why not try a biological method? Bacteria and yeasts are great little chemical factories and they already make oligo- and polysaccharides. You can feed them different types of sugars and get polysaccharides of different lengths made up of different monomers. I don't know how you can turn these into a plastic but you may get some ideas here:

http://www.research.bayer.com/en/bioche ... ctory.aspx
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php ... d_Plastics

Maybe you have already explored this possibility, but I thought i'd suggest it just in case.

Good luck!

Sybee